By Canadian Press

New Hampshire Gov. Sununu rules out 2024 presidential bid, citing already crowded GOP field

Jun 5, 2023 | 10:37 AM

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said Monday that he will not seek the presidency in 2024.

The 48-year-old Republican governor, a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, made the announcement on CNN and followed up with a post on social media.

“I will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024,” Sununu tweeted. “The stakes are too high for a crowded field to hand the nomination to a candidate who earns just 35 percent of the vote, and I will help to ensure this does not happen.”

Sununu was among a small group of Republican officials still openly contemplating a presidential bid. Even with his decision, the 2024 GOP White House field will be large.

Earlier Monday, former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork declaring his campaign for president. He joined a field that includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen Tim Scott of South Carolina, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

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Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to launch his own campaign Tuesday evening in New Hampshire, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will announce his bid Wednesday in Fargo.

Sununu has said he would endorse the GOP’s ultimate nominee in 2024, but that he’s rooting against Trump.

“You obviously have a very large field,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview. “I think the former president is doing much better in the polls than folks thought.”

He said that Trump “has no chance of winning” the general election in November of 2024.

“If Republicans nominate him, a vote for him in the primary is effectively a vote for Joe Biden.”

Sununu, who was recently elected to his fourth two-year term as New Hampshire governor, did not rule out a future run.

By not running, he said, he planned to speak with “a little more of an unleashed voice” to make the Republican Party bigger.

Steve Peoples, The Associated Press